he cured himself. >> steve: he cured himself with his own brain, he says. >> gretchen: one report this morning says his ex-wife, if he's divorced yet, had moved back in with him and they have two-year-old twins. not a good situation. >> steve: yeah. so anyway, the charlie sheen saga continues. join the weekend folks for "fox & friends" this weekend. they kick things off tomorrow at 6:00 a.m. 'til 10:00 a.m. eastern time. >> gretchen: have a fantastic weekend. >> steve: bye-bye. go on a friday morning. it all came down to a dramatic late night vote. >> 61 ayes, the bill has passed, 69. all in favor, say aye, all opposed say nay, the ayes have it, the bill is in the senate, the assembly is adjourned. bill: what a scene that was! in madison, wisconsin. republicans in the state

assembly, catching democrats off guard passing a controversial budget bill, but that battle not over yet. we're not awaiting a move in the senate in washington where democrats are still blocking action by not showing up for work. the governor scott walker, a republican, warning that chamber has to vote today or there will be massive layoffs of public employees. we have reached that point, everybody. good morning, welcome here. i'm bill hemmer, live in "america's newsroom". here we go, martha. martha: good morning, bill, good morning, everybody. i'm martha mcical up. good to have you with us today. what a scene in wisconsin, all right? now they have one vote down, one more to go in a debate that's made this state ground zero for a national battle over unions and the state budget, the state senate now in limbo, the 14 senators have still not come back and they are holding up the next stage of this, which is the critical vote. bill: mike tobin leads our coverage on the ground there in madison, wisconsin and what happens there now, mike? good morning.

>> reporter: bill, it's all about the senate and dealing with the bitter emotions in wisconsin, after 60 hours of debate on the floor of the assembly the vote was rapidly called it, was open for a short time, so short that only 13 of the democrats ultimately got their votes in, they chanted shame and cowards as the republicans streamed out of the assembly chambers there. now it all is about those 14 at-large democrats who remain across the border in illinois. they've got the votes to pass this bill in the senate t. goes through with the language related to collective bargaining unchanged but they don't have a quorum in the senate. they still need the senators to come across the border, they've given no indication they will bill. bill: ultimately, then, what about this deadline, mike? >> the governor's office says they've got a refinancing deadline today, they need to refinance $165 million in debt. without that, they're going to start layoffs. they have notices prepared for some 1500 state employees, at-risk notices,

that will will -- that will go out at some point. i heard from the governor's office they've not gone out yet. there is a discussion the deadline could be pushed to thursday, they are researching it. bill: mike tobin. we'll be back when we get more news. martha: a tense end as you've been seeing to this historic debate in wisconsin. here's more of the dramatic aftermath of last night's vote. watch this: >> [cheering, chanting] >> martha: this is a powerful battle, folks, that is being waged and it will be taken on in other states as we continue to look at the protests over state budget bills in this country. bill: what do voters think about what's happening now and the democratic stall tactics? a national poll out of rasmussen reports it is not winning americans over. 67 percent say they oppose the democrats' decision to

leave that state. only 25 percent support what the democrats are doing. interesting numbers there. martha: and wisconsin is far from the only state that is facing this problem. forty-five states have huge budget gaps across this country. in fact, listen to this. only five states in the united states of america are doing okay in terms of their budget and do not have a shortfall. the top three states that are in serious trouble, california faces a budget decifit of over $25 billion, illinois has $15 billion in debt, and new jersey, trying to close a 10 1/2 billion dollars gap in its budget. and today, there's a shot of the white house with the rain on the camera there, president obama will huddle with democratic governors today, they are in town for the national governors association meeting, on the agenda, ways that washington and the states can work together to try and get the economy going, try to cut some of the debt in these states. many of those governors are in a bind, though, because they face a huge cash crisis, the president is urging them to seek compromise, not the

confrontation that we are seeing play out in places like wisconsin. so let's focus in on the west coast now for a moment california suggesting that a plan -- that they have a plan that could have national implications. stuart varney joins us with the details on this from the fox business network. good morning to you stuart, above all places, right? california. >> california. i repeat, california! this is a heads up to every state worker in california and beyond, an independent, bipartisan commission, meeting in california for the past year has just issued a recommendation, and it is this: end the guaranteed pensions for current workers. that means if you now work for the state of california, and you have been promised a guaranteed pension on your retirement, start thinking again. this independent panel, again, it's bipartisan, says we've got to dump the existing system. that means you cannot guarantee the pension that you have been contractually

obliged to guarantee because california can't afford it. now, th-gs not the law. this is a recommendation. and governor brown can accept it or turn it down, or ignore it completely. but the fact that it's happening in california, the fact that its bipartisan, that this is an end to the guaranteed pension system which we now have in place virtually across the country, that's a very big deal. martha: yeah, well, this is an incredible reality that is coming home to roost. you look at states in the different years that they say their pension abilities cover will run out, stuart, it's a big story, and i know you're going to continue to cover it on varney & company. thank you sir, always good to see you, have a good day. bill. bill: martha, thank you. fox news alert now. we're getting word from a u.s. chartered ship has finally left libya. on board, more than 300 passengers, most said to be u.s. citizens. that ship's departure had been delayed for days due to bad weather. meanwhile, here is rare and new video inside of libya. have a look here: >> [gun shots]

>> [explosions and gun shots] >> we believe this is in the port city of benghazi, the second largest port town, that was taken, heavy gunfire, protestors searching for shelter. then you see a gasoline bomb thrown in the direction of an approaching vehicle. a canadian evacuee says he smuggled that video out of libya. so where are we now in all the unrest around the world? the ? the middle east and north africa? behind me,er are, about a month ago in the country of tunisia, located on the lefthand side t. spread to the east, cairo and the rest of egypt, sandwiched in between now is where we find libya and mommar qaddafi still in control. we believe of at least half that country. here's tripoli, the capitol, where it was reported about an hour ago where government

forces were firing again back on protestors, unconfirmed that that is what was getting from inside the capitol city. tobruk is in the east, right along the libyan-egyptian border and that has been the location the last couple of days, a port city on the mediterranean, a large town but not the largest in libya, and david lee miller has been reporting from there for the last couple of days and david lee is live with what he is seeing now. david lee. >> reporter: good morning, bill. it's worth noting this is a friday, a day of prayer in the muslim world. its on a friday that the regimes in tunisia and egypt fell and there were calls for mass demonstrations today in libya and here today in the eastern portion of the country, demonstrations were held. we have videotape that was recorded within the hour. this is a demonstration held here in tobruk, about one hour ago. thousands turned out in the main square of the town, just outside the police

station. it was completely destroyed last week. bill, we saw something remarkable today. i don't know if you'll see it on this videotape, but i actually witnessed a man stomping on a photograph of mommar qaddafi, stomping repeatedly on that photograph and then cutting it into pieces, just one week ago, he would have been executed or, worse, had he done so. there is a report that the government opposition forces continue to make progress, they have taken control of benghazi and the city of phufplt. zrata, the second and third largest cities in libya. finally, the government now seems to be taking a less hard line stance for the demonstrators, the government here announcing there are going to be raised wage increases, as well as an increase in food subsidies and that the government is going to give $400 to each family, but the bottom line here, bill, it appears this is much too little and too late. the opposition forces continue to gain momentum, the question now is how long will it take them to rally

in the capitol of tripoli, where it appears that mommar qaddafi is now still holding out. bill. bill: thank you, interesting development there, if indeed the money -- people with given money. we saw this in bahrain a few weeks ago, where everybody in that country was given several thousand dollars and things went quiet. we'll see whether or not libby stays hostile again today. martha: a little background on the dictator mommar qaddafi who is clinging to power now in libya. back when he was 27 years old, he successfully org need a coup that overthrew the libyan king, that was back in 1969, so that makes him the longest serving head of state in the arab world, he has also sponsored and been behind revolutionary efforts around the word, including places like sierra leon and iran, he was known to back charles taylor in liberia and involved in a number of nefarious things around the world, including the lockerbie bombing which has gotten attention lately. he also provided financial support to the ira and the palestinian black september

movement, responsible for the massacre at the 1972 munich olympics. those are just some of the highlights of his long and storied career. bill: unbelievable. if he is thrown out of that country, could his next stop be here? the united states? if so, he's already got some hot bigs to hang his hat. turns out qaddafi has a 25 bedroom mansion in bergen county, new jersey. who knew! the house was purchased in the '90s by the libyan government as a diplomatic residence, but the u.s. government said forget about it, no dice, and it became a summer home at that point. you might remember, qaddafi tried to stay there a couple of years -- years back but locals protested, they kept them out so it's pretty unlikely he'd be -- likely he'd set up house in jersey. mccomeums are safe. martha: he who wanted to pitch his tents and bring his camels, and that did not go over there. to wisconsin, the 14 democrats are still on the run, staying at hotels

scattered around illinois, we understand. they have a good amount of people chasing them as you might imagine. you saw the state troopers watching for them in wisconsin yesterday and some are asking tough questions about their decision to hold up this vote. take a look at this. >> why aren't you -- why aren't you in wisconsin doing your job? why did you leave the state, sir? why did you flee the state? martha: that was a sticky situation. we're going to talk to the man who confronted the wisconsin democrats who are hiding out in his state, coming up. bill: also, a horrific scene, four children, swept away by flood waters. the search for the missing continues this morning. that's up and we'll get to that, and a big storm moving across the country. martha: chilling details in a terror plot out of texas, a saudi arabian man, a student, now in custody, he is accused of planning deadly attacks right here in america. we're going to find out how close he came to pulling off his plan. >> i've never seen him, but i'm glad i didn't! >> you wouldn't think that

like here, in luokay, middle of nowhere, there would be somebody like that, but you never know.

will will -- bill: we are now waiting, waiting for the first court appearance for a 21-year-old student out of saudi arabia, living in texas. investigators say he spent a few years planning an attack on america, with weapons of mass destruction. he's now accused of a chilling jihad plot and among his targets, the home of the former president george bush. fbi officials saying that bin laden is this man's influence. >> it's the only case of this type currently underway in the fbi in terms of an insider threat, inside the country. bill: michael schoer, cia counterterrorism analyst, former head of the cia's bin laden unit, good morning to you, it's great to you have back here on "america's newsroom". there's a lot to go through

in three minutes. bottom line, how bad was this guy, or could he have been? >> he looks like a very methodical man who had gone about learning english, then going to university to learn how to use chemicals, and it looks like it's a very serious plot that the fbi and the law enforcement people were kind of lucky to catch on to. bill: you think they were lucky? >> well, they were lucky, because they had the held of the private sector, the people selling chemicals alerted them to it. it was certainly not -- it wasn't a sting or something like that. bill: we have seen stings in the past but what is interesting about this story, is that when he tried to make the purchase the companies alerted the government to him. and then they got on his trail and they were eventually able to track him down. he's 20 years old, he came to the u.s. either -- at the age of 17 or 18. is there proof he came here to commit an act like this? or did the plan converge

after he was living in hr*ub okay, texas? >> i think his journals that have been published so far clearly indicates he came to the united states for the purpose of doing these things. he wrote in his journals that he did very well in high school in saudi arabia so he could win a scholarship, come here to conduct acts of jihad, as he said in his writings. bill: wow. one point about students from saudi arabia. do they have an easier time getting in? >> much easier. because of our close relationship with the saudis, there's almost 30,000 saudi students in our country, and they have a pretty easy time getting visas. and one of the disturbing things is so many of those students study hard sciences or medicine. both of which are applicable to weapons of mass destruction. bill: so he was trained, possibly, in chemicals and -- >> well, he went there -- >> bill -- bill: and ultimate ultimately what they can do to people. >> i think that's what we're seeing and it makes nonsense

of the articles we've seen in the past couple of days in the media about al-qaeda being irrelevant. the inspiration of osama bin laden is extraordinarily wide and deep in the muslim world and of course it doesn't take many people to make a disaster. and whenever you have a saudi student, you know, osama bin laden was not an anomaly in saudi arabia. he's the poster boy for their educational system. and so that's the kind of young men they produce. bill: what in the world was he doing with president bush's address? >> well, certainly mr. bush is thought not highly of in the muslim world, and information in the united states is a pretty available commodity. it's not hard to find those things, sir. bill: but that kind of information should be hard. it should be difficult. >> well, it should, and construction diagrams for buildings and dams and other things in our infrastructure also should be more difficult than they are. but they're not. bill: point taken. apparently those were some of his targets, too, allegedly.

we're going to see him in court in about 40 minutes for the first time. michael, thank you for coming in there, michael schoer, our guest on this and thanks to you, also. martha. martha: well, big changes to a major network's prime time lineup, why cbs is pulling the plug on the very popular show "2 1/2 men" and charlie sheen has a lot to say about sheen has a lot to say about this and about his office when we eycome're back.

bill: just ask him!

charlie sheen is out of work, cbs can ling that show "2 1/2 men" this after a rather illuminating radio interview with sheen. >> i don't have time for their judgment and staoupldty and you know, they lay down in front of their ugly children and look at me and say i can't process it! bill: that will get you some viewers, america! >> martha: oh yeah. bill: the producers did not address the future of his program beyond this season. martha: can't make this up, right? let's go to a much more serious story now. one child is missing and three children are dead after their horse-drawn buggy was overturned by rushing waters in a flooded creek. they are members of a western kentucky amish community. this is a horribly, horribly sad outcome, due to some of the storms we've been seeing, and they went right through the town of dublin. the children's mother and two of the siblings were able to escape unhurt, and then you cross over to

tennessee, where you've got whipping winds and heavy rains causing some very dangerous conditions for drivers there. so is there any relief in sight from this late february storm in let's check in with accuweather.com meteorologist mark mancuso for an update. hello mark. >> reporter: hi martha. it looks like things are improving in the east and in particular, kentucky and tennessee, as the storm speeds its way to the east coast. but now we have a new system we're concerned about, and this storm dropping down to the california coast, it's just incredible, it's like a once in every 20, 30 year-type storm, it's a cold system, and it's going to drop right down the coast, right over the bay area, and right down to los angeles and san diego. what's going to happen here, we'll see a soaking rain today in the bay area, that will move down to los angeles tonight, and then we'll see the cold air come in, and the snow levels will be lowering, so in the hills around san francisco, talking about snow down to 500 feet, there could be light coatings, even down to

the giradelli square and fishermen's wharf, could there be a few snowflakes with the heavier snow showers. here in the sierra, it is pouring, snow, can't get across the mountain now, they've shut it down because of very heavy snow, all this excitement to southern california, tomorrow, snow in the grapevine. terrible travel here. martha: mark mancuso, thanks. it's one to watch. we'll keep an eye on it with your help. bill: we mentioned this with michael schoer. now we are seeing pictures of this saudi arabian, a student studying in texas. look at the hardware protecting this guy as he moves into court only moments ago. his name, by the way, khalid al i-m aldawsari said to be influenced by osama bin laden's speech, that he bemoaned the plight of muslims and the united states has now busted this guy for planning and plotting a series of attacks

all over the country. he is to meet before the judge at about 9:00 a.m. local time, 10:00 on the east coast, 30 minutes from now. but this is the first image of the 20-year-old, now being led inside. a reporter throws a question, there is no answer back. that's what we call a perp walk, in the highest degree, moments ago from hr*ub okay, texas. we'll -- hr*ub okay -- from lubbock, texas. martha: we'll get back to that. the crisis in libya, fueling jumping gas prices at home, u.s. drivers are feeling the pain. >> very scary. not a good thing, especially when you're on the road to make a living. martha: where is this headed, folks, as we head towards the summer? we're going to look at what may be in store. bill: a scene in wisconsin overnight, republicans passing that state's controversial budget bill and getting -- well, they got one heck of a reaction here. roll it and watch: the

chant of "shame". we'll talk to the illinois man who confronted some of the 14 wisconsin senate democrats who are still hiding out out of state today.

bill: 9:31, good morning,

some of our top story, and get ready to pay off, america, a big jump in gasoline prices, aaa reporting the average price for a gallon is up 6 cents, but $4 a gallon already reality in some parts of the country, the overnight spike, one of the biggest single increases we've seen since the aftermath of hurricane katrina. here we go. teachers in providence, rhode island, fuming over that city's decision to send every single one of them a pink slip. city officials say they don't actually plan to lay them all off, instead it's a move to give the city, quote, maximum flexibility in making budget cuts. teachers as you can imagine not happy with that. my commitment is to my students and my parents at my school. so you know, i'm hoping that that is also the district's, that firing all the teachers is really necessary, and not really a political maneuver, because it's so destabilizing. bill: watch that story. state law requiring school

officials to notice teachers by march 31st. martha: bill, it is the union battle that could very well set a precedent for the rest of this country and that is why what's going on in wisconsin is so very important in america today, folks. the wisconsin assembly, as you saw that raucous vide -- raucous video we showed you, this they passed a bill that would take away collective bargaining rights in wisconsin and that moves to the senate but good luck passing it because the democrats has left the senate as has been well documented but a tea party in illinois tracked some of them down recently and questioned them about what they're doing. take a look: >> sir, should you be in wisconsin, fulfilling your constitutional responsibilities? sir? can you just answer one question, sir? we'd appreciate it if you could just answer the taxpayers of wisconsin. they elected you to fulfill your duties as a responsible senator. martha: well, there you have it. wisconsin state troopers also went house to house, trying to track them down at their homes. there were some reports that

they were crossing back into wisconsin to maybe shower and change and then head back across the border. they did not find any of them. they only need one of these democrats to be in the house to force a vote on this. so for now it appears that all 14 of them are continuing to hold out because they cannot get a compromise on collective bargaining from the governor. that is the crux of the remaining issue there. my next guest is the man that you saw in that first video, confronting the senators, david hale, a member of the rockford, illinois tea party. mr. hill, welcome, good to have you here this morning. >> thank you, good to be here. martha: how do you respond to people who say you are stalking these people and scaring them? >> well, i don't think we're staring -- scaring them. i think we're just trying to stand up for the american taxpayers of wisconsin. martha: tell me a little about what your plan is from here and where the last place is that you folks -- because you're making this your duty of the day, where did you last spot them, where are we now? >> they were last spotted in woodstock, illinois, in a

subdivision, apparently they had finish the subdivision for the last three days, on and off for different kinds of meetings. we don't know for sure if they've been sleeping there or not but we do know they've been there in this subdivision, and then there was some word they were going to try to meet the senators from indiana who have followed the wisconsin senators' lead in advocating their constitutional -- ab by date -- abdicating their constitutional daughters to the states. martha: i think there are close to 50, when you add them all up, representatives from wisconsin and indiana are all in your home state of illinois right now. >> it seems like it's a sanctuary state for renegade fleeing senators. martha: so talk to me about what happens now. i mean, how long do you think they're going to stick out, you know, this illinois part of their plan, and what will budge? what do you think is going to be the catalyst to send them back eventually? >> well, a couple of things come into play. we're wondering where

they're getting their money from, and they're saying they're not getting it from the unions, and so when they start to run out of money because apparently the wisconsin senate passed a bill that they would have to pick up their paychecks, so if they are paying for it out of their own pocket, they're going to have to get back to wisconsin to pick up their paychecks which are locked in their desks in the senate, on the senate floor. other than that, i'm not sure. i think one of the ways that the wisconsin senate can pass this bill is to divide the bill up so that it doesn't include anything that costs taxpayers funds which would not require a quorum, and they could pass this and get this whole crisis that they're in over with, and these senators can return home. martha: that's interesting. do you think that's likely, though, is it possible to parse out this bill so it doesn't affect taxpayers in any way, because that's what this is all about, isn't it? >> yeah, that's what it's all about, the taxpayers, and it is possible, i'm sure that the officials in wisconsin are looking at

that, but you know, the pendulum needs to swing back towards the taxpayers on this issue, and you know, we certainly don't want to deprive teachers or public employees of their fair pay, but you know, i think they need to have compassion for taxpayers. it's time for unions to have compassion for taxpayers, and it's time for these senators to fulfill their constitutional responsibility instead of subverting their constitution. i mean, their constitution is modeled after the united states constitution, and it's worked for years and they should go back and do their duty. martha: if they -- we saw these troopers go around, and here's a quick question for you, what will they do, can they haul them out of their house, arrest them for what they're doing or do they just encourage them to go stpwhabg. >> the rumors are that they could force them back to the fort. i have not -- i'm not sure what the internal politics of it all is. apparently it is a violation of some sort of a code.

apparently, they could be arrested, if they were not in session. something to that effect. martha: interesting. david hale, thank you very much. >> thank you. martha: we'll watch what you're up to and see, if these folks run out of money, they have to run home and collect their check, i guess. bill: you've got indiana, wisconsin, new jersey, the republican governor chris christie, laying out his plan to fix that state's budget by charging employees what he says is their fair share for benefits. that means they will pick up 30 percent of the cost by the year 2014. have a listen: >> now you're looking to balance the budget on the men and women of the police departments, fire departments, and the teachers, okay? [applause plen plen. >> and that has never been replaced and that's part of the reason we're upset and feel betrayed. could you answer that. >> i'd love to send a bill to whitman, mcgreevy, cody and corzine. i can't. and i'd love to be able to replace the money that was not put in there, but i have no place to get it from. bull bill all previous

governors in the garden state, governor christie wants to raise the state's retirement age from 62 to 65, roll back a 9 percent increase in state pensions, new jersey state employee unions now responding, and they have a message for the governor. don't follow wisconsin's example to close jersey's budget gap. rick leventhal is on that story as the story spreads to trenton, nj. what happens there today, rick? good morning. >> reporter: good morning, bill. there's a rally scheduled here, 2 1/2 hours from now, organized by the afl-cio, which represents a million workers in new jersey, other unions are expected to be represented here. one leader told me they could have 3-4000 people, but i got to tell you, the weather is awful in this part of the state today, heavy rains, high winds expected later, not sure how that might affect turnout, but we did speak with the president of the new jersey chapter of the afl-cio, charlie wilkanik, who told me that labor union members

are taxpayers, they are not the villains and they are willing to negotiate. listen: >> this is such a real crisis, we're perfectly willing to come to the table and do what we've always done. when times are tough, we understand we've got to give back. that's been our history. and when times are better, maybe we do a little better. that's the american way. >> wowkanech says this rally is in support and solidarity with the wisconsin workers. bill, and he called wisconsin the ground zero for labor unions. bill: we talk about them out in force in the rain and wind. what about those who support the governor, what are their plans, rick? >> reporter: there are counter rallies scheduled here. the tea party is scheduling rallies and a separate press conference to support the governor. they say actually that they're in solidarity with taxpayers, that they support the governor's claim that the private sector, not the public sector, is the key to growth. we expect their numbers to be perhaps smaller than the

labor union members who are going to be bused in here shortly, bill. bill: thank you rick. rick leventhal, out in the rain today. nasty day. thank you rick. martha: we are getting a lot of lightning bolt news wire alerts here that say that the area that controls the oil fields in libya is now reportedly under rebel command. who is the leadership of this rebel command? the white house prepares to respond to all of this and to take some action in the situation with libya. we are getting new video on this, the obama's administration response, it has been criticized. listen to this: >> we're watching this guy off the left side. yeah, he gave us a left turn coming out of there. >> 99, off to your right,.

>> why did you start the turn once you were airborne? bill: some very close calls caught on that taeufplt we'll tell you about a stunning new report revealing a rise in air traffic control errors. there's a lot more of what you just heard in a moment here, and if you're flying in the northeast, by the way, it is gloomy! a rainy day here. martha: glad to be inside today, right? bill: yes, we are, in new york. >> ♪ >> ♪ who will stop nine rain -- who will stop the rain? >> ♪ >> ♪ >> ♪

bill: breaking news, bear are us throughout the day, the crisis in libya reaching another milestone, now getting reports of a libyan oil town, a town by the name of rega.

is now under rebel control. the videotape you're seeing here is what we believe was taken only two days ago in benghazi. in the eastern half of the country. you see all those blue dots on the screen? that's all the oil fields, and if the eastern half of their country is under control of the opposition they may have more than one town under control. what if anything will the white house say about it? juan william, political analyst, good morning to you juan. is the president's response in your view adequate at this time? >> well, he's been widely criticized, but i must say if you're talking to people inside the white house and the state department they feel they've got every hand busy right now, they've got treasury reaping assets, they're trying to get the united nations involved in some type of collective action to the security council, today the president has been on the phone with the british, the italians, trying to get them to have coordinated sanction efforts and possibly also to impose a no fly zone.

but from their perspective, they've got to be very careful about the presence of americans still on the ground and they're worried about al-qaeda. you know, i thought iran was going to be the big threat here but they say some of the people who are fighting against qaddafi are actually terrorists affiliated with al-qaeda. bill: you have said that in -- he has said that in speeches, too, he talks about the quote unquote bearded ones. i understand the point about americans there, certainly don't want to cause any more harm to them but why not condemn the killing of innocent people by the military in this country and why not do it immediately? and you could do it not just from the white house but collectively? >> everybody's sense is -- this is like me talking to people inside, what they sense is they're on the verge of what is potentially a humanitarian crisis, the kind of genocide that some of -- some of these people would call genocide, so they don't want to antagonize, because many of the people inside the libyan military, which is quite fragmented, bill -- you know, qaddafi

would not allow a strong military to take hold because he feared it would lead to a total coup against him, so they've got to try to make it clear to these various militias and factions that there will be consequences and that the international community, the -- reluctant -- reluctant to ijust the united states but the international community will take them to court. bill: what do sanctions do snow you mentioned the united nations. libya sits on the council for human rights! is that the most absurd thing you've ever heard? and the u.n. might make a move today to kick them on that. wooptido! >> too late, huh? >> bill: has that world body ever seemed -- seemed so irrelevant as now as when libya is on the human rights council? >> it's outrageous. there's no way to even rationalize such an outrageous on a human rights council. but what you've got, you said are they irrelevant, no, not from the u.s. point of view, not from the

european point of view. they said this is the place where we should be able somehow to form a collective, effective world action against libya, so it doesn't seem that one party, especially italians are worried about this, but also the u.s., that one party is fomenting dissent inside another country trying to create civil war. bill: it's not like the problems of qaddafi haven't been known for nears -- years, how did he get on the council in the first place? >> it's -- to say to you why, they should have never been on the council. , the bombing, -- >> bill: we'll see what they're doing and how they'll play their cards on this. thank you juan. we'll see what happens next and who makes the next move. martha: just crossing the wires the french president says qaddafi must go and president obama has not yet called for that specifically. we'll stay on top of that breaking news in "america's

newsroom". it's the military's version of messing with your mind, folks, psychological operations or psyops, it's called but did our u.s. military use it on lawmakers why general petraeus is looking into this whole thing. we'll look into this story. bill: also the world's most famous hollywood sign could get a brand new look. martha: say it isn't so. bill: we'll tell you why.s reali >> ♪ >> ♪ say goodbye to hollywood. >> ♪ >> ♪

>> ♪ >> ♪ hurray for hollywood. >> ♪ >> ♪ bill: if you're in hollywood, get a camera, because you're about to see something you've probably never seen before. will snow cover the famous hollywood sign?

there's a storm system roll going l.a. that's going to bring rain and hail, maybe snow in l.a., temperatures expected below freezing on saturday, some parts of the san gabriel mountains will likely see up to 2 feet of snow. get your cams ready! martha: never seen that before! in the meantime, the dream of owning a home, shattered for a lot of americans when the housing bubble burst, but for those who can afford to buy something now you could possibly get the deal of a lifetime, folks. doug mckelway is live with us. what does research shows us about the best deals out there? >> a good rule of thumb is that wherever you find the most foreclosures and short sales is where you're going to find the best deals. average home prices in the u.s. have fallen more than 27 percent below their peak prices, but in some cases the price drop is 60 percent of where they once for. we went to folks on

mozilla.com for the best deals. >> what we did is we looked at areas of the country where home values have fallen more than the national average, so they've fallen more than 27 percent since the peak of the market, but then we also looked at cities where buyers are able to negotiate off the last list price, so if the home is listed for one price but it ultimately sells for ten or $15,000 less, that means buyers have tkpwoerbs power. >> and what they found was that there are good buys virtually anywhere in the midwest, too many cities to mention, anywhere from the appalachian and rocky mountains. also, las vegas stands out, san luisa, california but florida had an unusually huge inventory of good prices -- buys. here's a house in sarasota, currently listed for 849,000, a 20 percent price cut, a house in orlando, 383,000 in 2006, currently listed for $225,000, that's

almost 41 percent below sale price. then another orlando house, listed for $489,000 in 2009, currently listed for $350,000, that's a 28 percent price cut. you really got to feel for the seller in these cases, martha, but if you're a buyer it is an unusually good time. martha: doug, thank you very much, doug mckelway in washington. bill: i used to looked forward to going to zillow.com. no longer. it's depressing. martha: my house is worth next to nothing now! bill: prosecutors say he was one chemical away from making a bomb, the chilling new details. we're learning about a terror plot. we are momenting away from the suspect's first appearance in court. you will see it. plus, have a listen closely here: >> traffic for 889? >> 889 go ahead and to your right, has you in sight, cessna 1500 maintaining

visual separation. >> that was -- >> martha: those are scary tapes of close calls, and the numbers of them are increasing on our nation's runway. a new report makes stunning claims about what's going on in the traffic control towers. that is coming up. a privilege for the ultra-wealthy. it's a necessity. find investments with e-trade's top 5 lists. quickly. easily. use pre-defined screeners and insightful trading ideas to dig deeper. work smarter. not harder. depend on yourself the one person you should trust to take charge of your financial future. e-trade. investing unleashed.

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. martha: a "fox news alert," we are now seconds away from the first court appearance for a man who is charged with trying to build a weapons of mass destruction in texas. 20-year-old college student from saudi arabia, a legal resident of texas accused of targeting former president bush's home with a bomb, a serious case, built against the young man and that is how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom," i'm martha maccallum. bill: i'm bill hemmer, we saw the mug shot an perp walk and

prosecutors say he tried to build powerful chemicals from a school supply company in north carolina and the substance used in science experiment, explosives when mixed with a few household components, could be deadly. martha: a hero, who works for that company and we'll tell you about that in a moment and kris gutierrez is live outside the courthouse where it is playing out in lubbock, texas. what are authorities saying about the suspect. >> reporter: good morning to you, hello, we know, the justice department tells us that he has been plotting a possible terror attack, for several years and, used the internet, allegedly to teach how to build explosives and researched how to turn a regular cell phone into a remote detonating device and also, according to the justice department, had a hazmat suit and gas masks and clocks and wiring and a stun gun among other things. martha: they found a journal as well. and what did they learn from that?

>> reporter: the fbi searched his apartment and in it found the journal and in the journal, according to the fbi it describes how he sought and obtained a scholarship he knew would get him directly into the u.s. and would also help him financially and, in fact, and one of the journal entries he wrote, now, after mastering the english edge language, learning how to build explosives and, planning to target the infidel americans, it is time for jihad and here's what a neighbor said about him. >> nothing happened. they caught him inside and it is nerve-racking now, thinking about it and everything. >> reporter: the justice department also says that he made similar comments on a blog, that he had posted on the internet. martha. martha: what do we know about potential targets? >> reporter: learning a lot more about them, the main one according to the justice department, that really caught their attention was the home of former president george w. bush.

and the former president and first lady now live in a suburb of preston hollow and coincidentally, we should point out next-door to the bush family home is a houses used to hold the family's secret service detail and he was allegedly plotting to attack dams, reservoirs and even nuclear power plants among other things. martha: extensive plot, kris, thank you very much and the plot was foiled thanks to a tip from that school supply chemical company, carolina biological supplies said the suspect ordered ten bottles of chemicals of phenol, commonly used in chemistry labs and teachers buy one bottlie for the whole year for the school system and it was a red flag for the sales department. listen to this. >> we became aware of suspicious circumstances around that shipment. and we immediately notified the

fbi, and got the phenol back so he wasn't able to get it. >> this is the one and only time something like this has happened. martha: they are heros for reporting that and, did exactly what they should have done, it can be mixed with compounds to make it explosive an investigators found a hazmat suit, wiring and highly concentrated chemicals inside the suspect's off-campus apartment. bill: see something, say something. martha: yes, they did. bill: we see something, now, miami, southwestern part of the town, police units are set up in the area, setting up a perimeter after a shooting took place, either near a school or inside of a school and here's what we know. according to police a person has been shot, possibly dead, the perimeter has been set up around redland, elementary school, and redland middle school, now in lock down and the camera you see, from our affiliate, wsvn, our fox affiliate, scouring the

neighborhood and not sure where the gunman or gunmen are at the moment. and we are trying to track it down with the police and see whether or not all things are clear. if one person has been shot is that person alive or dead? and was the person a student? a target of the gunmen or random violence? just past 10:00 a.m. there in southern florida. miami-dade county, police have responded and we will see what comes of this, in a matter of moments. stay with us on that. and in the meantime, another "fox news alert," wisconsin is not alone in the next hour, president obama huddles with democratic governors, many facing an immediate cash crunch. tough budget cuts, and the ticking time bomb of pension, ious and there are many of them. wend goell goller, what is on t agenda for the meeting? >> reporter: the focus is how to grow the economy and dracreate s and the president is well aware many governors face an immediate cash crisis and are tightening

their belts like most american families are, only democratic governors will be here today. so, wisconsin's scott walker will not be among them but the issue of public sector workers' pension obligations may well come up. their benefits said to be more generous than those for private sector workers and the spokesperson says going after bargaining rights is not the way to balance books. >> public sector employees, tighten their belts like everyone else as we all try to get control of our budgets and the state level and the federal level, but it is a concern that whatnot happen is that the fiscal problems that states find themselves in be used as an excuse to go after the fundamentals of bargaining rights, collective bargaining rights and the underlying foundation of unions. >> reporter: the president said governor walker's actions look like, quote, an assault on worker rights. bill? bill: thank you, we'll watch it, wendell goler, the conference

gets underway today, thanks, martha? martha: wisconsin lawmakers are not the only ones who flew the coop, 35 democratic members of the indiana house bolted the hoosier state, gone up to illinois, and seems to be the pattern and despite republican governor mitch daniels dropping his support for a union busting bill. listen to this: >> they are going to hit the road, they picked the right state and these people who spent indiana broke a few years ago and we have been cleaning up after them since and ever year they try and spend money we don't have and maybe a look at illinois, where they can't pay their bills and have been raising taxes left and right, driving business away, and, infrastructure is crumbling... martha: a close-up look at illinois and coming up later on "america's newsroom," reaction from someone who had to, tackle the job of balancing a budget, mike huckabee is here in "america's newsroom." bill: in the meantime, learning about terrifying numbers from the air, nearly 1900 errors by air traffic controllers in 2010. according to "usa today," today

a spike of 81% from the previous year, 2009. reports saying at least 43 of those mistakes last year were likely or could have caused a mid-air collision. and heather childers is live in new york city on this. good morning. >> reporter: good morning, bill. the federal aviation administration says don't worry about it but reported air traffic errors as you said have nearly doubled since 2007. let's look at the numbers. the number of record incidents, 1040 and up 2010, that number rose to 1887. an 81% increase. now, out of those reported incidents, those most likely to cause an accident or collision, were also up, 26%, from 34 in 2007 to 43, last year. and you should also be aware, operational errors usually mean aircraft coming too close together. this particular incident, that you are looking at happened in 2009, over the hudson river in new york, where a tourist

helicopter collided with a small plane, killing 11 people. and here's why the faa says you shouldn't worry about it. in 2008 they implemented a new safety program which they say has better reporting methods and protects controllers for errors they voluntarily report and the union representing the air traffic controllers, they say if you don't know -- don't know what to fix if you don't know about the problems and the faa says more reports mean a safer system for passengers, the chairman of the house aviation subcommittee is concerned enough to possibly hold a hearing on the matter. bill? bill: heather, we'll watch it. i feel better... hardly! thanks. >> you're welcome. martha: this story is getting attention now, senator john mccain visiting afghanistan back in 2009. he was one of several lawmakers part of the report, that says they were targets of a sky-ops

attack, and, we talk to the pentagon and jennifer griffin has late information on the story and we'll bring it to you, coming out of this. bill: and buried alive after a catastrophic earthquake, chilling text messages from some of the victims, still missing in the rubble. also... [people chanting]. martha: a big story, folks, the question is this. could what happened in wisconsin be the first of many dominos to fall? john stossel on the battle for the future of our country. straight ahead. what super fruit is taking america by storm? sunsweet ones. prunes? they're a delicious source of nutrients. wow! it's packaged by itself... that's fantastic! that is so juicy. this is delicious. sunsweet ones. over 400 million enjoyed, and counting.

bill: back to miami, what we are learning now about these two schools in lock down, one person has been shot and the other is on the run and the motive might have been robbery and there are two schools in miami, florida,

right now, redland elementary and redland middle school now in lock-down and police set up a perimeter, the students are said to be okay. but, we're waiting to see how it turns out and one person down and apparently shot and the other on the run and the description of the suspect has not yet been given and we'll watch it for you, the motive might have been robbery. wsvn, thanks for the chopper shot in south florida. martha: this just coming into "america's newsroom." reports that the muammar qaddafi militia opened fire on protesters in tripoli and bloodshed in the city of benghazi. this is amateur video we've gotten in, hard to detect. where it is coming from... [gunfire]. martha: this is sid to be -- said to be from benghazi and, this news crossing the wires, rebels now claim to be in control of all of the oil fields, east of the town of

ras lanuf and there is a smattering of oil fields there, and this is a significant development, production there is running at 25% of the unusual capacity and you can understand what the capacity will be on the oil markets when they get the news and all the momentum building to punish muammar qaddafi. lieutenant colonel oliver north joins me, host of ""war stories"" and the fox news military analyst who had his own dealings with muammar qaddafi over the years. welcome and good to have you here. >> great to be with you. martha: talk to me about the significance of this. the word an interim ruling coalition has taken control of the oil fields. who are these people. >> we don't know and the government of the u.s. doesn't know which is more alarming. the problem of course has been we don't have human intelligence about any of this. we don't know who will be running egypt, in the aftermath of what happened there, after the military junta, and the same

situation is occurring in bahrain and yemen and, of course, unfortunately, this administration has said nothing about the brutal suppression of the protests in iran. martha: they say they are doing that because they wanted to protect american citizens on the ground and there are reports now, they are all supposed to go to one airfield and will try and get a charter flight out of there, can bring one suitcase and have no way to get them there and they said get there if you can and we'll get you out of the country. >> and for the first time in 31 years we have no u.s. carrier battle groups, in the mediterranean. and that is a consequence of decision made earlier by this administration. the frightening part of all of this is, the price of ill is going to spike. the iranians are in control of the world oil market, all they have to do is have one of those islamic revolutionary guard corps speedboats send an rpg through the straits of hormuz and the price of oil will be

over $200 a barrel and we'll be paying $5 a gallon of gasoline. martha: we are hearing reports from geneva the libyan coalition separated themselves from muammar qaddafi and share what you shared with sean hannity, you and your family were personally targeted by him. >> this relates to what has happened in texas. where, a student from saudi arabia is proven tow be -- at least alleged to be masterminding a terror plot against the former president and against infrastructure targets in the u.s. in 1985, 1986, in the aftermath of bombing muammar qaddafi's terror centers, i was put on a list to be targeted for assassination, and a year after the bombing raid, in 1987, they sent the people's committee for libyan students, to go target my family and me and the fbi

thankfully notified us, and got us out of town and eventually apprehended most of the terrorists and it was a student organization, the same parallel we see with what happened in texas muammar qaddafi is the kind of person who murdered people all over the years, a brutal despot and killed people in planes like pan am 103, killed people on the ground and organized and run terror organizations, and, this is a man whose days are numbered. martha: how long do you think he has. >> maximum of two weeks. he has no place to hide and no palace waiting for him outside of riyadh. martha: do you think he dies a martyr -- >> if he said he wants to be a martyr and many people wanted to oblige him and my personal hope is a very painful experience. martha: that is understandable, given your experience with all of it. one last night, sarkozy said, muammar qaddafi must go and what would you like to hear from the

administration. >> well it is too bad they didn't do the right thing from the get-go. you cannot pick and choose where you want freedom to break out. the administration could have taken the principled stand from the beginning with lebanon, tunisia and egypt and, made a principled statement about it and they didn't do that and tried to pick and choose and at this point what this president needs to do is exactly what he said about hosni mubarak eventually, he has to go and we'll take him into custody and try him and not be able to send military troops to get him as some people suggested. that is not within our capability at this point. there is a distinct possibility that his own people are going to take care of him, if he doesn't die at his own hand he'll die at theirs. martha: interesting times, right, colonel. >> very interesting. martha: unbelievable situation unfolding. great to get your insights. thank you very much for being with us today. see you soon, all the best. back over to you, bill. bill: "fox news alert," lubbock, texas. the plea for this man is now in, moments ago, not guilty. what a 20-year-old student,

saudi arabia said to a judge moments ago, inside the courtroom in lubbock, texas, khalid aldawsari, to allegation he was getting ready to use weapons of mass destruction, among his alleged targets, president bush's home in dallas, texas and before a judge, not guilty, moments ago and will be held in custody at least ten days and next hearing, the 11th of march, a detention hearing, a student, from saudi arabia, studying in the state of texas. martha: back to d.c. new calls for a democratic congressman to step down, following bizarre disclosures like this photo of him dressed in a tiger costume, folks! he sent this to staff,who were understandably worried about all of that. bill: happy halloween, huh? did the mail terry in afghanistan try and use psychological warfare, trying to manipulate visiting u.s.

lawmakers? people like senator john mccain? hmmm... martha: and the futurist who predicted the major changes that are in our lives right now. he told us you'll have all of these things, technological advances and what does he think is coming next? >> makes a prediction, folks listen. he predicted the collapse of the soviet union. described the rise of the internet and, foretold the... t d to over 40 campbell's condensed soups. t d helps us reduce sodium, but not flavor. so do a few lifts. campbell's.® it's amazing what soup can do.™

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bill: now to the battle, between the crippling costs of pension obligations, and could it be the start of a tipping point in american politics, a topic only for john stossel, exploring the battle for the future of america. how are you doing, john, john stossel, host of fox business

network, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. bill: you went looking for what? the deep corners of american government. >> well, i think we're at a tipping point. the currents path is unsustainable and the first -- the first time in my career i'm hearing push back from people in government saying, whoa, we have gone too far, enough, we have to make cuts, and, these union protesters, so interesting, ran a clip of people saying, shame, shame, shame! but, i wonder, they have these signs saying this is an attack on labor and, the unionized workers don't represent labor, they represent 12% of labor in america and 7% of the private sector and maybe a third of the government workers and the majority of workers are not in unions and may resented baying these fat benefits. bill: you say the vast majority of workers in america belong to no unions, i think based on probably debates we see back and forth most people are not aware

of that and you say public sector unions are so protected they could bankrupt america? >> if something does not change, do you think, heck, we are already bankrupt, where do we go from here. >> the federal government is bankrupt and states have to make these decisions and this collective bargaining fight is interesting. i can see both sides, you want the right to collectively bargain. bill: and you can see a union working saying, don't take that away, i have power in numbers and you take that away from me, what do i have to stand on that after that. >> competition. if you are a good worker, people want to hire you and that is what most workers have to stand on and i wish, governor scott of wisconsin was more principled about it, in that he says, collective bargaining is a problem and you are electing the people and we're giving you good pensions and, oh, but we're going to except the cops an except the firemen and only going to apply it to the pension and not the wages. bill: in wisconsin. different in other states, like ohio. >> let's have a fight, either it

is good or wrong. but, let's not have -- let some unions in and some out. bill: you ask an interesting question, can politician spend less and still win votes and that will be answered sunday night in your special program. >> we'll try. we're in a battle between take your and maker and when there are too many takers, the tipping point begins. bill: i'll watch, sunday night, stossel, primetime, 10:00 eastern time on the fox news channel and tackles the battle for the future. battle for the future of america. nice to see you, thanks. all right, martha. martha: thank you, bill, he bilked investors out of billions of dollars and the tab for the investigation, any idea how much it cost to redistribute the stolen money taken by bernie madoff? you will not believe it, forecasts! ♪ ♪ money, money ♪ money, money ♪... ring ring.

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bill: may emmy, w -- bill: miami, this is miami-dade, schools are in lock down, one person has been shot and we don't know if the person is alive or dead and the police have their work cut out for them and we are told students are okay so far, an elementary school is shut down and middle school is shut down and that looks like an airport, not quite sure what that is in southern

miami and police are on the lookout and set up a perimeter and we'll tell you how it turns out in a matter of moments in "america's newsroom." martha: general david petraeus, the top u.s. commander in afghanistan is ordering an investigation into the bizarre story about mind control. the article appeared in -- reported a u.s. general in afghanistan used members of the psychological operations team, the psy-ops team to influence u.s. senators into providing a little bit more funding for the war. a tangled story. jennifer griffin joins us live from the pentagon and u.s. military officers are pushing back, on the acquisition. they were even using the psy-ops folks when the congressional leaders visited in order to convince them to fund this war to a greater extent. what do you make of all of this? >> reporter: that's right. i have been hearing both sides of this and talking to all the participants in the last 24 hours, it is a very complicated story but i can tell you, that u.s. military officers over in

afghanistan are frustrated, and feel like they are muzzled and cannot give their side of the story because of the investigation that is going on. i have learned that lieutenant colonel holmes who made the allegation did not attend the elite psy-ops training facility at fort bragg where special operations forces would be sent for those -- who really do real psy-ops, and i'm told the type of information, code word for psy-ops he was doing before working for general caldwell was basically setting up music events inside kabul to give a good impression to the afghan people, u.s. military operations, and i'm told from u.s. military officers in afghanistan, that he was a disgruntled officer, and that he in effect didn't like it when general caldwell's staff asked him to basically have a desk job and he was doing research and i have a statement from the lieutenant's spokesman, and he says that nato training

mission-afghanistan, categorically denies the assertion the command used an information operations cell to influence distinguished visitors and he says that essentially lieutenant colonel holmes as asked to gather information for visiting -- general caldwell about visiting dignitaries but it was the kind of prep work they do in the pentagon and elsewhere before speaking to visitors. martha: interesting. all right, thanks for that reporting, jennifer. we have not heard the last of both sides of the story. thank you, jennifer griffin at the pentagon. bill: another story keeps going on and on, bernie madoff is sitting in prison for stealing up to $50 billion out of investors, and that is what they believe in the end, and any idea how much it is costing to untangle his web of fraud? so far, the firm in charge of investigating the mess, spent almost $300 million. and that's not the end of it. reports say it could cost maybe a billion dollars in the end and judge andrew napolitano is on this, anchor of freedom watch and the fox business network.

what! $800 million? i thought the idea was to give the money back to people. >> that is a big number but you have to compare it to the amount of money they've recovered. they've recovered $8.5 billion. and cost the taxpayer $300 million for that and the going rate for lawyers when they recover money like this is 1/3. this is a far smaller figure. but, the $300 million that has been spent is legal fees, hourly rate of which it has been approved by government regulators and fees for investigators, the hourly rates for which have been approved by investigators, and, all of the expenses they had to go through, in order to track down the billions that still exist in bank accounts, extract it from those people who earned it unlawful fully and distribute it amongst e -- >> i get it. it is not easy to find, right? this trustee, irving picard but, a billion dollars? that could be the charge?

that is crazy. >> the estimated cost if he collects 50 billion, that will be 1/50th of what he collects, going as a fee to pay for the people who did the collection and now the ratio is different because he's charged $300 million, for the $8.5 billion he's collected. look, some of what he has done in my view is excessive. how does a -- the guys who own the mets be expected to know what bernie madoff was doing? some of what he has done is terrific. the banks ought to have known and the people close to bernie madoff have known and the fact that he collected $8.5 billion already, this is cash in the bank. bill: he negotiates the fee before he even starts working, doesn't he. >> he has not tried any cases, all the $8.5 billion has come in because he's knocked on the door saying give to it me or i'll get it from you through the courts. bill: we'll check you tonight, fox business network, freedom watch! a lot of freedom if you get a billion dollars, right, martha?

martha: all right, cbs is saying sorry, charlie! cancelling the production of his hit sitcom, "two-and-a-half men" and people are upset about that as actor charlie sheen's wife makes headlines on a daily basis, these days and, says, everybody is jealous, did you hear what he said on the radio? >> i am battle tested, bayonets and i'm tired, so tired of pretending my life isn't perfect and winning every second and i'm not perfect and [bleeped] and don't have time for these clowns and their judgment an stupidity and, and, you know, they lay down with their ugly wives and in front of their ugly children and look at their loser lives and say i cannot process it, well, no, you never will and stop trying, just sit back and enjoy the show! the bootleg cult, arrogant -- i refer to as alcoholics anonymous, and alex, reports, say 5% success rate and my

success rate is 100%, do the math! you love with violence and hate with violence, there is nothing that can be questioned. and people say, you know, work through your resentments, yeah. no. i'm going to hang onto them and fuel my attack. >> you sound like thomas jefferson. >> i'm not thomas jefferson. he was a [bleeped]. >> [laughter]. >> but i dare anyone to debate me on things. martha: okay. i don't know what to say. fascinating it. and, we are joined by the kttv affiliate in los angeles. hello there, rick. >> reporter: well, good morning, martha and bill, good morning, everyone. standing outside the warner brothers studio and warner brothers and cbs planned to produce 24 episodes of two-and-a-half men and charlie sheen is on the large mural with a smile on his face now but you have to wonder who the demeanor is now that the rest of the season has been cancelled and, they tamed 16 of the 24 shows,

and, they decided that in response, to charlie sheen's remarks, they are just going to dump the rest of the season, and charlie sheen makes close to $2 million per episode. and that will go by the way side, for now, but we should also mention that this decision to end the rest of this season puts more than 200 people out of work, both full-time staffers and the rest of the cast, so, that can't be sitting well for the folks who work on that show. to say the least. martha: no doubt, rick, thank you very much, sounds like it will cost charlie sheen about... what, $16 million? bill: they, he clearly doesn't care. martha: probably can get by on the stuff he made. in one or two episodes. bill: he's bragging, showing off. martha: and, he shows up with the girls, we'll call them nicely and, bill says, he's just braking. bill: wisconsin hardly alone with the crushing pension obligation and one governor,

mike huckabee, knows the story well because he ran the state and tough choices states have to make in a moment here and technology, is it moving so fast we humans will not be able to keep the pace. martha: that is my fear. bill: is that the point where robots and computers merge? meet the guy who made the prediction, for years.

>> i'm gregg jarrett in for jon scott, events in lybia moving quickly and we have live reporters covering what some are describing as genocide there, we'll also update you on the fate of the americans who have been trapped, breaking news on the saudi national on scholarship, allegedly plotting a chemical bomb attack on american soil and we'll talk with two congressmen who call it an absolute failure of our immigration policy. plus... a growing controversy

over a so-called internet kill switch. is that a good idea? coming up. martha: this is the season for states to release their budgets and we have been watching them come out in different states and the folks who work there need a couple weeks to figure it out and now asked, just coming in, the g.o.p. wants two more weeks to try and figure out the budget for this year and that is going to entail $4 billion, $4 billion, in budge cuts, because they came up with $61 billion for the whole package and if they get two more weeks to extend the government before they figure it out they can get away with $4 billion en cuts and if that is confusing to you, you are not alone but that's the plan as they need a couple more weeks to push the deadline, one of the big pieces of information we lead into the next segment with. joining me now is the author of the new book "a simple government" which sounds like a good idea after what i said, right? 12 things we really need from washington and about a trillion that we don't.

former arkansas governor, host of huckabee, mike huckabee, welcome. >> thank you, martha, great to be here this morning. martha: what do you make of this? they have a deadline but they can't get it done. >> the republicans say we'll take $4 billion into the 61 and sounds like dipping a teaspoon in a big kettle of soup and serve it out spoon full at a time but shows there is no real sense of anyone wanting to take a big risk and the republicans say, we'll hold it off for a couple weeks and democrats don't want to cut spending and the truth is americans want congress to balance the budget in the u.s. and, i think when people for example, one of the chapters in the book i have is called you can't spend money you don't have, you can't borrow you can't pay back and every family knows that. every business knows that. why is it these guys in washington don't understand that. martha: it is a great point. and i'm feeling more and more as we watch the state battles wage en new jersey and wisconsin it

feels like the people of america and the state governments, they get this. but the folks who are on capitol hill appear not to understand that people now want to deal with their budget on a yearly basis. >> the political consequences of saying we'll have to make a cut, means you have to look someone in the eye and say -- >> sorry. >> uncle suggest is done. we can't keep doing this anymore and that's the message i believe people are willing to hear and want to hear. they don't want to cut grandma off of social security and, don't want to hurt someone from getting medical care and eyeglasses but they understand is we've created a monstrous system that is spending money without transparency and accountability. that has to stop, and states, cities are facing it because they have to balance their budgets, and the feds print money and they borrow money, states and cities can't do that. martha: and all of this in my mind comes back to what we are watching play out in wisconsin. that is the micro example, because if you allow the collective bargaining to continue -- and everybody wants these people who work as

firefighters and police men and teachers to do a good job and be paid and compensated well for it, right? but all over the years, you keep taking on all the things nobody can afford and what is your take on collective bargaining? >> i'm happy i've written about it, page 35 and i wrote about it months ago, the week of the book, it is number one story in the world. and here's what i have said. states have a parasitic relationship with the public employee unions and federal government has a symbiotic relationship and an unholy alliance that means the states cannot keep up with the parasitic demands of the public unions. because their workers are getting 30% federal wages from the private sector colleagues and, 70% better in benefits, and it's not that public employees shouldn't be paid well. especially firemen and policemen and teachers, we all pay -- ought to pay teachers well. martha: it is not about that. it is about, you get overtime if you call in sick and show up and

then you get overtime, that is one example and those things that have been cooked into the plans -- >> specifics especifics, and fo every dollar a teacher puts en the state puts in $70 and there are not many pension plans that are that generous and, it shouldn't be an either/or, either bust the teachers or lift them well, we'll pay them well and better when they teach better and best when they teach best. martha: and they have to believe that. >> something goes into the pension plan that is more realistic and in keeping with their private sector counterparts. martha: mike huckabee, scratched the surface and we want you to come back and we'll have you back, governor mike huckabee, good to see you. >> thank you. bill: developments out of lybia, are the rebels closing in on muammar qaddafi? we are live on the shores of tripoli to find out there. and man meets robot in a film that makes what could be a frightening forecast. for the future of all of us.

strike up the symphony. back in a moment. martha: bravo! everyone has someone to go heart healthy for. who's your someone? campbell's healthy request can help. low cholesterol, zero grams trans fat,

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>> i've set the date 2029. and i'm ashamed an ai will be able to match human intelligence and go beyond it. so, artificial intelligence, which will get us not just more human intelligence but will give us super human intelligence, will enable to us solve problems that we're not able to solve today. bill: want to know where we're headed, watch the documentary, it says we might be headed for cyborg cities and, aye a a veteran futurist is the focus of

a documentary, transcended man, and brad ptolemy is the producer and director of the film and you have a cover in "time" magazine and i saw the documentary and what struck me and i tell everybody about this, is that in the film, you take a warehouse from 40 years ago and in the warehouse is one computer and 40 years later that computer and entire warehouse is all contained here in this blackberry. >> a thousand times more powerful now and a billion times more powerful per dollar and also does a lot more and you can access all of human knowledge. bill: make a table reservation for a restaurant, here's your point, ray. the arc of technology is so extreme now, at some point, very soon, we humans will not be able to keep pace. what happens then. >> it is progressing exponentially and the software and look at watson and the google cars, driving without human drivers, and, they will achieve human levels of intelligence, by 2029.

and, will soar past us but we'll merge with them and we are already and this thing on my belt is part of me and makes me martyr and they'll go inside our bodies. bill: people are doing that already. >> and, the pancreas implant is computerized. >> 18 years away and i described a warehouse 40 years old and remarkable speed, and barry, you have been interested in this since the age of 15 and worlds collided when the two of you met and you produced the documentary and who do viewers need to understand about what you have taken away from it. >> as you point out it is coming faster and faster and will affect their lives in ways they might not understand and that is why we made the movie, to share what will be happening with people everywhere. bill: people say it is nonsense and they say death this is really science fiction, now. >> i didn't start last year and i have a 30 year track record of predictions and what i described today, decades ago people thought was crazy and has come

to past and when these things happen, worldwide networks that connect billions of people, people accept it, as every day reality and they, again, assume nothing will change and look back a few years ago, we didn't have social networks, blogs and, the world is changing faster and faster. bill: so quickly, too, a robot went into space yesterday on board the shuttle and you mentioned watson and everybody was stunned by jeopardy, two weeks ago and maybe a little scared, too. it kind of freaked me out, barry. >> we times look at these technologies as being frightening but they are here to make us more human as we merge with them. bill: i encourage everybody to check that out, ray, you have invented so many things. it is a remarkable career you've had and we'll see if you are right. barry ptolemy, out today in movies on demand, itunes, starting next week. thank you, gentlemen. martha. martha: makes you feel more human, the feel-good take away from the segment. fascinating. thanks, so much, you guys, for

coming in. and let's go back to the situation in my emmy for a moment here, we have video coming in, the hunt, for the person who killed or shot one person, we know somebody is down, we don't know if they survived and the police are on the back of the police car as they are slowly canvassing the area, two schools in lock down, swo southwest miami-dade and we'll bring you the latest, when that comes in as they continue to search and in the meantime a jihad in texas. what we are learning about this college students, middle of your screen there, turned terror suspect. yeah, i'm always reading about how this market is so tough, ya know. i tell people, go to e-trade. [ sneezes ] bless you peppers. ya know, no matter what the market does e-trade can help. they've got strategies, screeners... [ sneezes ] ...24-- 24/7 customer support. anyway, they have pretty much every investment... [ sneezes ] ...you need.

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